Inspiration and photo lessons from professional photographers and the Tamron technical team.

Nature

Monday, July 06, 2015

The best way to capture shots of small bugs and critters, is to get up at daybreak on a cool morning with no wind, and search the little guys out in open field grass. When the temperatures drop at night, the critters body temps go down and in the morning they stay perfectly still and unable to fly away until they warm up. This allows me time to set up my tripod and shoot with out having to rush. In this image you can see two butterflies on the right side and on the left side in the middle you see a little bit of black in the grass and that is a dragonfly.

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Nikon D7000 - Tamron 16-300 / Shot at f/11

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Sometimes when these guys are in clutter grass you don't always get the nice clean backgrounds, so I will shoot in the lower f/stop numbers, and this one was shot at f/8.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Between my visits to photo specialty stores, events around the country, and the Tamron Tailgate Tour, I am fortunate to have seen and photographed a lot of beautiful and fascinating places around the country. However, one of my absolute favorite places happens to be in my own “backyard” – Rocky Mountain National Park just above Estes Park, Colorado.

So with a few days off the road, I headed up to the park with the amazing new Tamron 16-300, the powerful 150-600, and the hope to find a few wildflowers and/or elk along the way. With just these two lenses, I can cover just about any situation. Since we planned on doing a little walking during our day trip, I wanted to keep my backpack as light as possible by carrying as few lenses as possible and yet be prepared for anything I might want to photograph.

Of course, when my wife and I headed west from our home in Fort Collins, I forgot that it was a state holiday weekend (Happy 138th Birthday Colorado!) in addition to being the height of the summer tourist season. Despite the crowds, we managed to find a few great spots, some inspirational flowers, a few distant elk and some really interesting people.

Often when we head out on trips, my wife serves as “spotter.” She watches the scenery and looks for potentially interesting places to stop while I watch the road. Fortunately for me, she has a good eye and has found more than one interesting spot that inspired me to some great images.

Once we were into the park, our first stop was at about 10,100 feet at a pullout overlooking Hidden Valley just before the very popular Rainbow Curve overlook on Trail Ridge Road. Deanna had spotted some interesting flowers she thought I might like. There was a bit of haze in the air but since I wasn’t really looking for landscapes, I was able to concentrate on things a little closer to the ground. There were several different clusters of wildflowers which provided some great color.

After about an hour of shooting and a few minutes to review our images, we decided to rejoin the stream of cars, campers, and tour busses to head up toward the summit. But more about that in part two of our trip: Sunday Drive – The Elk.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

As spring has finally arrived here in Eastern Pennsylvania I’m excited and feel renewed about shooting the beautiful spring growth. Although she’s running a little late this year (spring that is), the trees are coming to life and the flowers are sprouting up saying look at me! This is a busy time of year for me capturing spring greens and fresh colors along with teaching spring workshops. Life is good!!!

I thought I would share a few tips for making the most of your spring photography:

Isolate - Make your subject clear. If you are photographing a group of flowers, isolate one, two or three. Select a specific subject to photograph out of the group making your main subject stand out.

Opposites Attract - The strongest color contrast is between opposite colors, red and green. This is because "warm colors advance and cool colors recede." Placing red against green can create an almost three dimensional appearance.

Backgrounds - The backgrounds are at least as important as the main subject. Nothing can kill an image quicker than a busy background. There may be as little as an inch or less of camera repositioning to go from a distracting background to a pleasing, detail-less, muted background.

Leading lines – Leading lines are probably one of my most used elements of design and incorporating them into your photography will certainly make your images stronger!

Many of my students will ask what type of equipment do I use or would I recommend. For all of my macro work I use one of the following Tamron lenses. I also use a carbon fiber Gitzo tripod (GT3541XLS) which is an invaluable tool for creating solid compositions and shooting with a slow shutter speed.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Each winter I count the months and days until I will be able to return to the rivers and shoot with some green around the water. I enjoy shooting flowing rivers any time but my favorite is when the trees have that “electric” green look. Shooting rivers is the perfect exercise in technique and composition. Using the natural curves of a river can lead the viewer through your frame.

Here are a few tips to help you get that perfect river or waterfall image. Contrast can be an image maker or breaker. The best time to shoot flowing water is on a low contrast day whether it is a result of an overcast day or even just after a rain or drizzle. I prefer to use a wide angle lens when shooting because of the ability to decompress the scene and include a foreground object to grab the viewer and pull them into your image. A must for me is sharpness and clarity so the logical choice for me is the Tamron SP 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC USD lens. It allows me to jam it into the foreground and still get the sharpness I need in the background at f16 or so. The other advantage to shooting in low contrast is that you are able to shoot at f11 or f16 and still get a shutter speed of 1 second or slower to give the water a soft flowing look. A crucial accessory that is needed to perfect the image is a high quality circular polarizer. The polarizer is going to eliminate glare from foliage and the rocks around the river while adding some contrast to the scene to make the compositional elements stand out more.

Another reason I like the Tamron SP 24-70mm lens is the construction of the lens will help to keep any minor moisture out of the lens. I typically will cover the camera and lens with a shower cap as I am moving around setting up my compositions but for the time it is uncovered and capturing the image I know the lens is safe from the elements. The lens comes standard with a lens shade so in addition to reducing any glare coming in from the side, it will also keep any moisture from hitting the front of the polarizer.

Another necessity is a tripod when dealing with shutter speeds of 1 second or slower. When I do this I will turn off the VC (Vibration Compensation) in order to reduce shake that would be created using this feature when the lens is on a tripod. My tripod of choice is the Vanguard Abeo or Alta Pro tripod. I have used this tripod in extremely awkward positions, often while standing in knee or waist deep water. The tripod legs will go to ground level independently and I will often have two legs resting on a wall or rock almost making the setup a right angle!

I prefer to shoot at slow shutter speeds as a personal choice to create the mood I desire in the image. In order to pre-visualize the effect of the slow shutter speeds I will squint. This makes the flow apparent to a minor extent. Shooting waterfalls is usually done from an obvious point but when photographing rivers I will try and find some area that has nice “C” or “S” curves in the river. I will also look for objects such as flowers or ferns to place into the foreground. Many cameras will only go to ISO 200 by default but often will allow you to go to lower ISO settings often referred to as L1 or L3.

With the spring thaws and the lush greens emerging along the rivers, it is the perfect time to get the gear out and go shoot some rivers and waterfalls. April and May are my favorite months for the new growth and you will find me in the woods often!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

For me the most important filter I have in my camera bag is the circular polarizing filter, this is because of the many uses this for this filter that can help enhance your images. First, and what most people use this filter for is to help create a more dramatic look to the sky by deepening the blue and brightening the clouds. Second, is to take out the reflections in surfaces such as glass or glare on shiny surfaces like a wet green leaf. Lastly, you can use it to slow down your shutter speed by up to 2 stops. If you are shooting a stream or moving water and your scene is a little to bright and you cannot get a slow enough shutter speed, try putting on your CP filter and using it like a ND filter. The way a CP filter works is by attaching it to the front of your lenses and turning the filter till you see the desired effect thru your viewfinder. For maximum effect it is best to have the sun directly behind you or over your left or right shoulder, not directly in front of you.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Sunrise and sunset images are usually compelling on their own, but adding a perfect copy of that scene reflected in a body of water takes it to the next level. When using a polarizer to enhance the sky, the best angle is 90 degrees to the sun’s path; however, when used to enhance and even out reflections in the water against the brightness of the sky, a polarizer works well in all directions.

For best results, level your camera for even reflections. Some newer cameras have built-in levels (like in an airplane), but although these are cool features, they can be difficult to operate in low light and eat up valuable time while the light’s vanishing. A hot shoe bubble level can be helpful for this reason because it’s always on.

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

One of the first steps to creating an interesting image for your audience is to work on pleasing compositions. The Rule of Thirds is one way to achieve this. The “rule” states that photos should be divided into thirds with two imaginary lines both horizontally and vertically placed over your scene making three columns and three rows on the image. Place the important subjects either on the lines or where the lines intersect, keeping them away from the direct center of the frame. When shooting a landscape, use this rule by placing the horizon either on the top or bottom line and not directly in the middle of the frame. Most of today’s DSLRs let you turn on the “rule of thirds” grid on your viewfinder (see your camera’s instruction manual). In this image, I placed the horses in the lower right third of the frame and positioned the fence across the lower third.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Recently I started to collect some images for a Tamron
Enewsletter on Letchworth State Park in Upstate New York, one of eight state
parks Tamron USA will be holding photo workshops in this year. I came across
one image that was completely different than the others, and I had forgotten I
created on my last trip to the park. What made it different from the rest is that it was a panoramic image created from 5 separate vertical images, when viewing this
image I realized this is a technique that I do not use often enough.

The definition of Panorama is “an unobstructed and wide view of an extensive area in all directions” and in photography it is capturing elongated fields of view
using either specialized equipment or software. The simplest way to create a panoramic “style” image is to use an ultra wide lens like the Tamron’s 10-24mm at 10mm’s to capture your scene, then in Photoshop software crop the image so it appears elongated either horizontally or vertically. The issue I have with this technique is that when using an ultra wide-angle lens is that you get the expansion effect between foreground and background subjects, which usually makes your foreground subjects look larger than they should and your background subjects look smaller.

Since I did not want the look of an ultra wide lens, I needed to capture this scene in a different way. So to create this horizontal panoramic, I turned my camera to the vertical position and with a Tamron 28-300mm VC lens set at the 40mm focal length I took 5 separate images from left to right, each a small part of the entire scene I wanted to create a final panorama of. When capturing the images I overlapped parts of the scene in each image by 15 – 20%. You will need to do this so that the Photoshop software can create a seamless merge of all the images. Once I had the images captured I opened Photoshop and imported them into the program through the Photomerge section which is under the FILE dropdown, then under Automate. Once the images are imported you have a few options to create the Panorama, in the case of this image the settings were: auto layout, I checked the box for “blend images together”. Once that was done, I clicked OK and Photoshop did the rest by processing files and creating the panorama. Today there are a number of very sophisticated software options besides Photoshop, and depending on the level you want to take your panorama images you have many options.

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

I’ve had a goal for a while to hike from Berthoud Pass to St. Mary’s/ Alice, Colorado where I live in one day. So a buddy of mine and I decided to attempt it. Of course, I had to bring a camera. The Continental Divide Trail runs along the backbone of the country. We would hike a small part in Colorado. We would start from Berthoud Pass and follow it along five summits (Mt. Flora, Mt. Eva, Parry Peak, Mt. Bancroft and James Peak) before descending through St. Mary’s Glacier and back home.

I know it sounds crazy, but I just love photographing adventures like this! There is something about the majestic mountain tops that summon me to visit. I am drawn to them like a magnet. Amazing blue skies against the foliage or snow as the sun dances between the clouds and paints the landscape. The crisp air, challenging conditions and grand landscapes keep me returning for more!

With more than ten miles to cover through wintery conditions and limited winter light, I chose to leave the tripod at home. Having time to set up and carefully compose seemed unlikely as we would be on the move. I would go handheld using the Vibration Compensation (VC) in the new Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8 VC USD. This stabilization technology really locks on and holds still while shooting handheld.

For some, going light means a point & shoot camera. For me going light means only taking a Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8 VC with a polarizer and a Nikon D800 body. After all, I could bring several more lenses right? I took into account that high wind was probable if not guaranteed. Ice crystals, snow and dust would most certainly get into the body if I changed lenses, so I decided to go light and shoot the entire day with this combination.

When shooting handheld, I constantly pay attention to the metering. I like to shoot aperture preferred mode, A on some mode dials AV on others. I desire higher f/stops for more depth of field, so I shoot between f/8 and f/16 for most situations like this and then monitor the shutter speed making sure it doesn't go below 1/60th of a second. With VC engaged, I get the results I’m after. Also, depending on the amount of snow, I use the +/- exposure compensation mode to over expose making the snow brighter, but being careful not to blow out the highlight detail.

A long story shortened, it was a long grueling hike! We made it back home just before 10pm. The Vibration Compensation worked amazingly in harsh conditions all day long! The only downside was walking the last three miles through the glacier with a headlamp in the dark. Even with that, it was a great adventure! The following images were processed from RAW. Hope to see you out there. Enjoy!

Friday, April 12, 2013

I headed out with a headlight on a cold and breezy morning before sunrise. I wanted to get high on the unnamed point next to St. Mary’s Lake, Colorado to capture sunrise images. The sun emerged over the horizon as I neared the summit of the point. As I emerged from the tree-line, the cold breeze turned to bitter cold accompanied by extremely high wind.

I dropped my pack, removed my tripod and extended the legs. After hiking for almost an hour, I knew my camera and lens had made the adjustment to the cold conditions. For outings like this, I put it in a zippered case so it can gradually change to the outside temperature as I hike to the destination. I removed my camera and placed it on the tripod. The wind was so strong and continuous that I had to hold the tripod down as I photographed.

To keep your hands as warm as possible in these conditions, I try to anticipate the start settings I will use and set them in the camera before leaving the house. This way I will minimize removing my hands from gloves during the shoot. I also highly recommend using gloves with leashes that attach around your wrists so you don't accidentally have one blow out of your hands and down the mountain as you remove it. Guess how I figured that one out?

The settings I set in the camera before leaving are settings I know I want or I know will be correct. One of these is RAW+ small jpeg. I know I will process from RAW, but I like to have the small jpeg for immediate viewing. This way I can toss them on my phone or pad for easy quick review on the couch or on a plane. They may not be perfect, but are enough to review and choose for editing the RAW version.

Another setting is white balance or WB on your camera. I know I want the daylight, commonly the sun symbol, setting so I retain all the subtle hues in the sunrise. If left in auto white balance, the camera is likely to shift the setting from image to image washing out most as it attempts to turn yellow and magenta light into white as it would with a light bulb. Daylight white balance is a fixed setting that doesn’t change.

For my nature landscapes, I like to use a quality circular polarizer. I rotate the polarizer to the dial in the look I’m after. Simply put, a polarizer removes or forces the reflection. I use it to remove undesired light reflection from atmospheric particles. In this case, mostly crystals of ice and snow blowing in the wind. They reflect the light, so I dial the polarizer to remove this reflection. Sometimes I dial to get the reflection. You can clearly see it through the camera as you turn the polarizer. Don’t forget to always turn your polarizer in the same direction it screws onto the lens to prevent it coming off, hitting the ground and rolling off a cliff! Guess how I figured that one out?

Finally, in a situation like this with high wind, take two or three images of the same shot. I do this because I’m never sure how the wind will gust or momentarily ease. I’m using f/stops to maximize depth of field which means slower shutter speeds at a lower ISO. Taking multiple images of the same shot increases you chances of getting a sharp image in high wind. I keep my hand firmly on the neck of the tripod holding the legs down. There is no reason to leave your camera packed away until it is warm outside. With the right game plan, a little suffering and the right equipment you can create some incredible images in the winter.

The following images were taken with a Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8 VC USD lens and a Nikon D800. Also used was a circular polarizer and a tripod. Keep warm and Enjoy!